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hopepetal · 1 year

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Boatem knights AU part eight! Pog!

Masterlist

@applestruda and @stiffyck! Things are ramping up!!

A long day, followed by an even longer night, passed.

After being patched up and fed, Grian’s condition had greatly improved. Scar was just grateful they caught whatever sickness he had early on, and that Marc had been… generous enough to give them supplies. Despite his fever going down and his lucidity returning, Grian was still weak and paler than usual.

Their hands were tied behind their backs again, but Grian’s wings had been left free, so one was currently wrapped around Scar. The other wing stayed close to Grian, the bandages wrapping around it keeping it from moving fully. The two knights sat in silence for a while, listening to the sound of the wheels against the road and the horse whinnying.

Scar broke the silence. “I’m sorry.” He gazed down at the floorboards of the wagon, sighing heavily. “For getting you into this mess, y’know?”

“Scar…” Grian trailed off, not knowing what to say. He merely shook his head, looking away. What could he say to someone who fully believed they were at fault for… all this?

Another moment of silence passed, before Scar coughed quietly. “How’s your injury doing?” He quickly changed the topic, plastering a smile on his face.

With a slightly amused, mostly exasperated sigh, Grian smiled back. “Better. So…” He began, pressing his shoulder against Scar’s, “how did you even get them to help me? From what I heard, they only wanted you.”

Scar shrugged, his grin turning sheepish. “I maaaay have told them that we were soulbound.”

“...Scar-!” Grian’s squawk of horror made the other man giggle. “You can’t just do that! I mean, it’s so obvious that-”

“Shhh. They’ll never know! Trust me, G-man. It’ll be alright.” Scar bumped his shoulder against Grian’s just as the wagon stopped once more. “Oh, joy.” He turned to look at Grian, his expression unreadable. “Well, whatever qualms you have with the whole soulbound business, you'll have to put aside. Think you can lie well?”

Grian nodded, his expression darkening. “I'll have to.”

The familiar sound of footsteps drew nearer. Scar leaned back with a sigh, feeling Grian's wing withdraw to fold behind him. At least they had kept the hooded cloaks from last time, so they wouldn't have to struggle to get into them again were they necessary. It was also good for Grian to have some form of covering for his torso other than bandages, which Scar absolutely planned on teasing him later for. Once they got out of this sticky situation, of course.

The wagon cover was once again pulled back, Marc whistling a cheerful tune while smiling down at them. “Good morning, lovebirds,” he cooed in a tone that made Scar feel positively nauseous. Great, he was a creep on top of being an absolute pain in the- “Get out.” Marc stepped back, allowing Scar to carefully hop out of the wagon before Grian.

Scar noticed how Grian stumbled when he hit the ground, his legs trembling as he straightened. Clearly the avian hadn’t fully recovered just yet, which was understandable but made their (as of right now, hypothetical) plan to escape a tad bit more difficult. He made sure to stay beside Grian as Marc ushered them down an overgrown forest path, his shoulder brushing against Grian’s.

After what felt like an hour in the relative quiet of the woods, Marc pushed them through a thick growth of underbrush and trees into a clearing. There, two people stood, armored and with masks covering the bottom half of their faces. At the sight of Marc and the two knights, one drew their sword while the other stepped forward.

“We only wanted the vex.” The voice of the one who stepped forward was higher pitched, but smooth and light. Kind of like Pearl’s, except not at all like Pearl’s. “There was no need to bring us a little birdie as well.”

Marc shrugged, putting a hand on Scar and Grian’s shoulders before shoving them forward. “They’re soulbound. I’m sure you know how that is, Opal.”

Opal’s eyes briefly flicked over to their partner before they looked away. “...yeah. Fine, then. Change of plans, we’ll take ‘em both. You good with that, Fern?”

With a sigh, Fern sheathed her sword. “Yeah. Would’ve been nice to have a bit of a warning, though. Guess we can’t expect anything better from a little-”

Marc groaned loudly, interrupting Fern. “Yeah, yeah, you’re still sore over that one time. Whatever. Take them and go, I’m done with this stupid job.” Turning, he began to walk away. “Good luck, you two!” he called back, “you’ll need it.”

And with that, Marc was gone.

“I hope he trips and breaks his nose,” Grian muttered, earning a soft chuckle from Scar. “Absolutely despicable. We are not lovebirds. You’re not even a bird!”

Scar had to laugh at that, nodding. “True, true. I am indeed not a bird. Very astute observation, my good man.”

Grian knocked his shoulder against Scar’s, smirking. “Oh, shut up.”

A heaving sigh drew their attention back to Fern and Opal, the sound having come from the former of the two. “He was right, this job sucks. Come on you two.” She pulled her sword again, swinging it leisurely as she walked around to be behind them. “Let’s go. Chop chop.” She snorted. “Not really, though.”

“Not unless you piss us off,” Opal added under her breath.

Scar forced a smile, clenching his hands into fists and feeling how his nails began to sharpen into vex claws. They pricked into his skin until they drew blood, reminding Scar of the damage he could do. Of why he and Grian were in this situation in the first place. “That won’t happen, don’t you worry!” he said, trying to sound as cheerful as possible.

“Right, then!” Fern poked Grian in the back with her sword, causing him to squawk and jump forward. “Onwards!”

And as they started moving through the forest once more, Grian looked over at Scar and realized that his eyes had started to dimly glow.

The sound of the horses trotting through the forest was far too loud, in Mumbo’s opinion. Although it wasn’t exactly a stealth mission, he had been far too jumpy during the entire trip to stop worrying about things now. Already his mind was pouring over the various design tweaks he could make to the horseshoes to make them more silent, to the bridle and the reins, to-

They were nearly at the spot Pearl had marked down on the map now. Mambo would know, he had been carefully- obsessively, almost- following along with their journey on the map nearly the whole way there. His focus on the map had nearly caused an accident on multiple occasions. But it hadn’t, so Mumbo had kept his gaze glued to the map.

He faintly realized Impulse was calling his name, turning over to look at the other knight as he dismounted his horse. “Mumbo. I think I saw something up ahead, so I’m just going to check it out, alright?”

Mambo hummed in acknowledgment, tracing a finger up the map following the path they had been taking. He was hardly even paying attention until he heard a loud bark, Impulse shriek, and the sound of someone (likely Impulse) being knocked over by a very large…

…Tilly?

Mambo scrambled down from his horse, shoving the map inside his bag as he grabbed the reins of both his horse and Impulse’s and led them closer to where the man lay on the ground, spluttering as he got his face licked by the very familiar animal. Laughter erupted from the trees, and Pearl stepped into view, pushing her hood down so that her face was visible. “Oh, you should’ve seen the look on your face!” she cackled, and Mumbo had to start laughing as well.

Impulse grumbled, shoving Tilly (gently, of course) off of him and rolling over so he could push himself back onto his feet. “Can’t you control her?” he muttered, wiping his face. “I am covered in dog slobber now.”

Pearl smiled, nodding. “Yep. And she is not a dog! She is a wild, ferocious wolf!” Whistling sharply, she called Tilly to her side, kneeling and scratching behind her ears. “Who’s a good wittle wolf? Who’s my ferocious wittle wolfykins? You are! Yes, you are!”

Mumbo just kept laughing. Impulse glared at him for a moment before turning back to Pearl. “She is a lapdog, for goodness sakes. Oh my- y’know what? Nevermind.” Taking a moment to let everyone calm down, Mumbo having to catch his breath after laughing so hard, Impulse continued. “So. Pearl. Give us the rundown. What’s going on?”

Pearl sobered up quickly, expression darkening. She stood, though one hand remained on Tilly’s head, lightly stroking her ears. “Right, then. Let’s get to it.” She took a deep breath. “I found one of the mercenaries that jumped Grian and Scar. The archer, I think. I… asked a few questions. Just a few! And got some answers.” Noticing Mumbo and Impulse’s concerned looks, she frowned. “I let them go after! Against my better judgment, mind you,” she added on lowly. “After that, I was able to track Grian and Scar to a village- I think you passed it on the way here?”

Impulse nodded. “Yeah. Something was off about that place. Mumbo and I made sure to skirt around it. Can never be too careful, y’know?”

Pearl hummed in agreement. “Good. Well, after I saw them at the village, it was really only a matter of guessing where they’d go and picking a spot somewhat close to that location. Then I sent the note, and the rest is history!” She paused. “Hopefully good history. For us, I mean. It would kind of suck if we failed. Which! We will not.”

Mumbo blinked, his face the picture of disbelief. “So this was all just… a guessing game? And it worked?” He didn’t know whether to be horrified or impressed. With Pearl, it was always a 50/50 chance of either emotion.

Pearl grinned. “You know it! It worked surprisingly well, actually. Grian and Scar should be near us. They were handed off to two others, armored and everything. Hence why I didn’t take them on right then and there. I probably would have won against them, but Grian and Scar would be defenseless and I honestly doubt they’d be honorable.” She shrugged. “Apparently they lied about being soulbound to stick together. Which was probably Scar’s idea, he’s clever like that.”

“Of course they did,” Mumbo and Impulse spoke at the exact same time, exchanging glances with a smile as they did so.

Pearl thought for a moment, her hand on Tilly’s head drifting down to scratch under her chin. “Grian was also injured, and it looked like he was sick, but I guess they got some supplies when they stopped by the village because he’s definitely a lot better today. And Scar…” she trailed off, hesitating. “...something’s wrong. He’s not doing so hot himself. His hair, the ends of it at least, are just constantly white. I noticed he was trembling… probably a result of suppressing his vex magic. Gosh- I can’t imagine the pain he’s in.” Her voice wavered. She knew well the horrors that came from suppressing one’s magic.

“Well then.” Impulse’s gaze hardened as a hand drifted to the hilt of his sword. “We’ll just have to get them both out as soon as possible.”

“Agreed.” Pearl pulled out a map, kneeling down in the grass and spreading it out. Mumbo crouched next to her, examining the marked spots carefully before pulling out his own map and marking the same places. “I mapped out the route they’re taking and planned an ambush spot.” She tapped the spot on the map twice before rolling it back up and stuffing it back into her small bag. “We’ll attack tonight.”

And for a moment, her eyes seem to shine with a purple hue. “Let's show those bastards that they messed with the wrong knights.”

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